My Mind Strays Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

Let not my mind stray while I pray
By thoughts of earthly chores of today
Or disturbing sins of yesterday
Or wander to my children far away

Thoughts of wealth, ill health or death
Steal my peace slowly by stealth
Raging revenge against another creature
Annuls my prayer and human nature

Meditate on the divine presence above
And in the hearts of all I love
Beseeching, guileless and selfless
Let me pray for nothing but His bliss

Nurture not dreams and longings for tomorrow
That might bring you untold sorrow
Supplicate to the Lord your aspirations narrow
To live in peace and not to harrow

God alone knows and decides what I deserve
In this mortal world where I serve
My fellow human beings straining every nerve
Remembering, from the path of virtue, not to swerve